Florida State football coach Bobby Bowden can give one good pep talk.

Every year, standing in front of his football recruits, he'll introduce his coaching staff, he'll introduce the Garnett and Gold dancers. Then, he'll introduce the team:

"Here are some of the most talented players in the country," he'll say.

	Jez Ratliff was an all-ACC rookie in 2001.

Only he's not talking pigskins. He's boasting about the program that has been thriving despite football's shadow -- the Seminoles' women's soccer program.

In a state where college football and baseball rule, Florida State's soccer team has staged a complete turnaround over the past three seasons of its seven-year existence. Behind efficient recruiting and a willingness to listen to his players, coach Patrick Baker has molded his program into a formiable contender in the highly competitive ACC field.

"We wanted to know what was going on," said Baker, who is entering his fourth season with FSU. "We talked to every player, and we wanted to listen. We found out that soccer wasn't fun for them, so first and foremost we wanted them to enjoy coming here, with a little more excitement."

The result? Before Baker's arrival, FSU was below .500 for 52 of its 80 games. After Baker, the team has dipped below the .500 mark just five times . Baker also led the Seminoles to back-to-back NCAA Tournament bids in 2000 and 2001, their first appearances to the big dance. The team has also set 134 "firsts," team and individual records set over the past two seasons.

THE FALL LEGEND

BREAKOUT WEEK RISING IN THE RANKS: The Notre Dame men's soccer team reached its highest ranking in school history as the Irish were ranked fifth in this week's National Soccer Coaches Association of America (NSCAA) poll. Under second-year head coach Bobby Clark, the Fighting Irish moved up seven spots in the rankings after their 4-0 win over Seton Hall. Stanford topped this week's poll, followed by Clemson, St. John's and UCLA. STREAKING BACK TO CALI: The California field hockey team deserves their upcoming weeklong break from NCAA action. Playing five games in eight days, the Golden Bears beat Rutgers, Saint Louis, Southwest Missouri and Indiana, with their only loss coming in overtime to Ohio State. The strong start should help California in the STX/NFHCA Division I National Coaches Polls, the first of which will be posted Tuesday. GAME OF THE WEEK HITTING THE POOL: After getting off to a 4-0 start, the No. 3 Southern California men's water polo team plays host to the 2002 So-Cal Tournament this weekend at McDonald's Swim Stadium. Talk about bringing ii on -- the tourney will boast 11 of the nation's top 13 teams, including top-ranked Stanford, No. 2 UCLA, No. 4 California and No. 5 Pepperdine. Keep an eye on USC's freshman utility Stephen Lipinski, who already has a team-leading 10 goals in four matches. THE NUMBER 7 That's how many goals forward Lindsay Tarpley had in the inaugural Under-19 Women's World Championship. Tarpley, who scored in sudden-death overtime as the United States beat Canada 1-0 for the crown, traveled from Edmonton, Alberta, a day later to start her collegiate soccer career at North Carolina.

And Baker is the first to give partial credit for the success to the same programs that have kept his program out of the limelight.

"Any exposure they get, it will trickle down to us," Baker said. "How you package it (for recruits) is most important, and you can't put a pricetag on it. We use them a lot to draw recruits."

And in his first season with the program, Baker even sought out the advice of FSU's football and baseball recruiting staffs, picking the brains of staff members that have helped form national championship-caliber teams.

The intuition has paid off for the Seminoles as seven players, four juniors and three sophomores, have come to Tallahassee and made an impact.

The juniors -- defenders Kristin Boyce and Tori George, and midfielders Summer Corum and Amber Tollefson -- have been another one of the keys in turning the program into a winner. Each player came in with individual successes, all members of their respective state's Olympic Development Programs.

"As freshmen, they all came in with winning records," Baker said. "They are all special players, and it helped that they have all remained healthy."

The sophomores -- midfielder/forward Jez Ratliff, defender Katie Beal and midfielder Camie Bybee -- were all named to the all-ACC rookie team as freshmen in 2001. Florida State is the only school to place three freshmen on the team. Ratliff and Bybee, both recruited from Oklahoma, combined for 15 goals and 13 assists last season, while coach Baker called Beal (Alexandria, Va.) one of the team's strongest defensive forces.

Although the team is still waiting the return of Beal (she is out until at least Sept. 20 with mono), Ratliff and Bybee have picked up right where they left off with either one in the top two of every offensive category through five games.

"When you look at how many good teams there are out there, to have this group is special," Baker said.

Florida State -- No. 17 in the NSCAA poll and No. 15 in Soccer America's rankings -- is not off to a particularly strong start at 1-1-2. But that might be a good sign. In the past three seasons, the Seminoles have started out slow at 2-2 in 1999, 3-2 in 2000 and 2-2 again last season. Also, Florida State has only lost back-to-back games at home twice during Baker's tenure.

The start doesn't worry Baker, but it doesn't mean his squad likes to lose. "I think we create a mentality that if we lose, fair enough, but we don't let it happen again right away," Baker said. "I think we'll be fine."

Florida State will test that mentality when it travels to face Miami on Wednesday at 7 p.m.

That's a test even Bobby Bowden would love.

Joy Russo is a staff editor at ESPN.com. She can be reached at joy.e.russo@espn3.com.